Homeland Visit: Day Two

Grandma, uncle, and Holly.

Soooo, yeah. You saw how the trip started. Thankfully, it got into a smoother rhythm from there. I had a great sleep and recovery day the next day and after that, we went looking for tack stores. Much to our demise, we only had two places to check out and neither carried english supplies. We drove to two different locations but discovered that they were no longer in existence. Boo! I did score a pair of bell boots for the almighty destroyer, and a mini Bacon Breyer ornament. Thanks grandma!

Will have to pain that sock, but looks like the Baconator!

Amethyst.

Citrine.

Grandma and I also hit up a gem show (they are everywhere along the freeways). There were so many pretty and sparkly things. Since Arizona doesn't have cool things like grass, they have to have cool rocks. And they do. And stupid cactus. We also went to the Desert Museum. I highly recommend going there if you ever have the opportunity. We always go when I am visiting. This time we checked out the birds of prey program and it was very informative and very cool. They showed us a variety of birds, as they flew over head (some wings even grazed my head). But I started to get weak feeling and we didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked.

Cactus and pokies as far as the eye can see.

This beautiful girl was my favorite.

A Prairie Falcon

Hummingbirdy

This one wears the right colors.

As a group of crazy animal loving women, we are quite entertaining to watch when things like dog shows are on tv. Fortunately for us, the Westminster Dog Show was on. Ever since I was a wee one, we use to watch the dog shows together (and yell at the judges for picking the wrong dogs). Our favorite groups are the working and sporting, but they never pick our favorite breeds. This year's show had a pretty great line up though, even if we were super pissed off about them picking that damn Skye Terrier again. Fortunately, the Best In Show judge agreed with us, and picked the German Shorthaired Pointer as the winner and the Borzoi as the reserve champ.

No Bedlington Terriers allowed either.

We made another trip back up to Phoenix to hang out with our favorite trainer again. He had two in that day, Nibbles (Outrageous Deal) and Albert (Alpine Gathering). I felt right at home again getting the horse's ready for their races. Mom and grandma loved on all of the other ponies (one tasted grandma's flesh) and headed up with Nibbles first. She came in a super game second place!

Peanuts and momma.

Be nice to grandma, Albert!

Aww, pretty Nibbles.

Go Nibbles go!

Galloping out strong.

Albert was next. It was his first race on the turf and he showed off his class as he held off the rest of the competition down the stretch. His handsome nose crossed the finish in first. Grandma and mom were sooo happy and we headed down to the winner's circle to greet our trainer and horse. That was a super fun afternoon.

In the mix going into the first turn.

Winning!

Two beautiful ladies.

We got to spend some time and my aunt and uncle's house too and that included some loving on Cheyenne, my aunt's horse. My mom and her had a little grooming session. That went both ways. Their two Boxers kept us on our toes as well, and I had a quick ride in my uncle's creation: THE dune buggy. It was kind of bad ass.

Kisses.

Soaking up the sun.

Junior.

Puppy play.